I’m a natural optimist and I do like to find the Silver Lining if I can. When I came down with a terrible cold last Tuesday and by Thursday still felt like a huge nose attached to a worn out body, I realized that I just could not subject the other three who would be in the car with me to a four hour ride to D.C. enclosed with Miss Sneezy. So I said, in my most pitiful voice , you-all just go to the Book Festival without me . (See Sept. 21st post about looking forward to the 2010 National Book Festival ( www.loc.gov/bookfest/ ) being held Saturday, Sept. 25th on the National Mall in Washington D.C. ) Don’t worry about me, poor, poor sick me, said I. Well OK, said they, we won’t worry about you, we’ll be on our way on Friday morning, really sorry you can’t come, we’ll try to get some of your books signed for you, watch the Book TV coverage.
But then, ironically, an important client of my daughter’s who was flying in from the mid-West to the Eastern Shore of Virginia to look at waterfront property on Thursday the 24th decided to stay over through Saturday to look at additional beachfront acreage. So that took her out of the trip as well. And then my friend’s son’s lasik surgery got bumped from Thursday afternoon to Friday afternoon, so another one bites the dust. That left only my husband in a position to make the trip, but loyalist that he is, he pledged to stay by my side, replenishing Kleenex and orange juice as necessary, commiserating with my loss of the opportunity to get the books I had purchased by Michelle Norris, Anchee Min, David Remnick and Scott Turow autographed by them, planned as special Christmas gifts for several people. ( I realize that it may not seem all that special. But trust me when I say that after you have stood in line about two hours per each author, in the hot sun, the only food all day being the trail mix and a PBJ you fortunately brought along but which got somewhat squished at the bottom of your rolling briefcase, washed down sparingly by a warm Desani, portapotties about 10 miles off but you are worried about leaving the line in case of a ruckus about getting back in, feet aching even though you’re wearing your most comfortable Birkenstocks, weary arms clutching the max- allowed- per- author three or four books, open to the title pages as ordered by the event staff, yellow post-it notes peeking over the edges of the title pages whereon you have, after much wracking of the brain, written the pithy phrases you want the admired author to inscribe for the recipient…… Well, after all that, I don’t care if it’s just an inscribed “Manual of Insurance Rates” instead of a John Grisham 1st edition — by golly, it is special !!!! ) Anyway, the 11th annual National Book Festival is coming up in just 361 more days, wonder who the authors will be ?
But back to the Silver Lining. In order to go to the Book Festival, I would have had to miss the 3rd annual Cape Charles Tomato Festival. So now, if I felt up to it, we could attend. Possible Silver Lining. Mid- afternoon, pocket full of cough drops, I summoned up the energy to slip down to Cape Charles with my husband. It was a pretty day, blue skies, warm, breezes blowing in from the Chesapeake Bay. My husband and I both always like the ArtWalk and this year was no exception — lots of mediums exhibited, sidewalk tables plus snow white individual tents featuring watercolors, sculpture, glasswork, oils, stained glass, decoy carvings, etc., up and down Mason Avenue as far as the eye could see. On one of the next- to- last sidewalk tables, I came across my art purchase of the day……. a whimisical watercolor, original and framed, a pair of charming orange seahorses, outlined in red, with large aquamarine eyes, set against a vivid backgound of various blues, white bubbles and little red hearts floating upwards as the seahorses shyly peek at each other. The whole painting was so vibrant, I love seahorses, I have a perfect place to hang it, I could not resist.
Continuing on down the sidewalk, past those last lucky diners to be able to enjoy a bowl of the ambrosial tomato basil bisque being served at Cape Charles Coffee House, we crossed the street to see the antique cars exhibit. Arriving just after the judging was completed, we watched as the trophies were being awarded. Although I am not that into cars, I was impressed with the 1930 Model A, black of course, which looked like it just rolled off the assembly line. ( You’ll remember that Henry Ford famously said that his customers could have the Model A in any color they wanted—- just as long as they wanted black ! ) Among others, a trophy was awarded to a 1955 mint condition Chevy painted in beautiful tones of cream and deep burgandy, owned by MaryLou and John Thornton, whose cute-as-a-button two year old grandaughter, Andrea, stole the awards ceremony as she presented the trophies. And that pretty much did it for me, tired, still not fully recovered, ready to go home and flip on the television. And so, a Silver Lining after all — I got a fun painting at the Cape Charles Tomato Festival and then spent the rest of the afternoon in comfy air conditioning, enjoying Book TV’s ( www.booktv.org ) live coverage of the National Book Festival direct from C-Span’s little studio set up in the huge History and Biography pavilion, temperature in D.C. estimated at a hefty 90 + degrees and no Chesapeake Bay breezes. Hi, ho Silver Lining.